Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Further Reading

Missile Defense Radar Sites

During the Cold War, both the United States and Russia built elaborate systems of spy satellites, radars, and computer networks to scan the skies for ballistic missiles and their deadly nuclear warheads. The US systems were pointed at the Soviet Union and the Soviet systems watched the Americas.

The Dnestr, Dnepr and Dauvaga radars at Skrunda, Mukachevo, Balkhash, Mishelevka, Olenegorsk, Sevastopol, known in the West as Hen House radars, were built in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Daryal radars, known in the West as the Pechora-type, were built at existing Hen House facilities at Skrunda, Mukachevo, Balkhash (Sary Shagan), Mishelevka and at new locations Baranovichi (Gantsevichi), Qabala (Gabala / Lyaki / Mingechaur), Pechora, Yeniseysk (Abalakova / Krasnoyarsk). These new radars were intended to replace the older Hen House radars.

Many radars no longer operate or suffer power outages. Only three of the nine modern large phased-array radars wre in service as of the late 1990s. Three have been deactivated or never completed, and three are inoperable or barely functional. Seven of the ten older, less capable Hen House radars are outside Russia in former Soviet republics, and some may be shut down for political reasons. The Soviet radar system was being modernized when the country fell apart. One of the new replacement radars, in Latvia, was torn down in May 1995. Russia won a temporary reprieve against closing two older Hen House radars in Latvia, but that agreement expired in August 1998. The radar was one of those covering the critical northwestern direction. Other radars used by Russia were in Ukraine, at Sevastopol and Mukachevo; in Azerbaijan, at Qabala; and Kazakhstan, at Balkash. Some are functioning, but there have been disputes over finances and personnel.

A coverage gap appeared after the closure of an obsolete Dnestr-M radar in the Latvian town of Skrunde, 150 km from the ex-Soviet Baltic country's capital Riga, in 1998. Russia leased ground-based radar stations in Baranovichi, Belarus; Sevastopol and Mukachevo in Ukraine; Balkhash in Kazakhstan; and Gabala in Azerbaijan. It also has radars on its own territory in Murmansk (arctic northwest), Pechora (northwest Urals), and Irkutsk (east Siberia).